JOCKEYS are hopping mad over growing mobs of kangaroos that have invaded ­Charters Towers’ racetrack.

The Towers Jockey Club has pleaded with Charters Towers Regional Council for financial assistance in erecting a roo-proof fence at the racecourse for the dozens of marsupials causing riders to fall off their horses. Drier than average conditions have driven rising numbers of kangaroos and wallabies to the track in search of water and food in recent months. The club’s vice president Robert Kirkwood said something needed to be done about the issue before there was a serious incident.

“There’s been a few falls, definitely, because of the kangaroos,’’ he said.

“They can startle a horse by sudden movements and riders become dislodged.

“Most of us have fallen off at some stage due to a kangaroo hiding in the grass or whatever. As a committee, we’re just trying to do something before someone is injured and preventing any claim against the club, so to speak.”

He said the club did not have the funds to erect a kangaroo-proof fence, which would be the best solution for protecting horses and their ­riders. At its monthly meeting on Wednesday, the council ­declined the club’s request for financial assistance for the fence, owing to budget restrictions.

The council, however, said it would give consideration to a loan arrangement for the club.

Jockey Athol Ryan said the kangaroos and wallabies were a real danger to him and his horse when he was training early in the mornings.

“They’re dangerous all right, because they hop across in front of you and you don’t know where they’re going to go,’’ he said.

“They’re on one side and then the other.

“They spook the horses. A few of mine have shied but there are other jockeys who have come off their horses.”

Trainer Bill Hetherington said there had always been small numbers of the marsupials hanging around the track, but the drought had brought them closer to the track in recent months.

“The bad thing is when the jockeys are galloping, they’re looking at one another and not realising there’s a roo there,’’ he said.

“There can be about 30 to 40 of the roos there, that have come for a drink.

“They’re all around here. They’re everywhere trying to get the green grass.”

Comments on this story

S Spain of Australia Posted at 9:22 AM March 21, 2014

We'll all be "shooed" if the Government continues its ill judged policies re flying foxes.
They are a key species which pollinate our forest and without them oxygen and rainfall (transpiration from forests) fail.
Note the loss of bees in the US, also a key species for planetary survival.
We have "shooed" many small nation states of original peoples, since European arrival, by massacre, poisoned rations, dispossession.
We have "shooed" ninety percent of Australia's tree cover, allowing increased drought (transpiration again) loss of topsoil on a land of ancient thin topsoil.
We have "shooed' the fauna of this landscape until we have the highest extinction rate of mammals in the world.
The Q Government has just altered the Plant Protection Laws so that the fifty new plants found on average annually in Q'ld (potentially useful for medicinal,, agricultural & other purposes) will potentially remain undiscovered or destroyed.
We are on the way to "shooing" water tables which sustain our agriculture by CSG while ignoring the God given solar resource in this State.
Probably enough "shooing." Build a fence.

Aussie Burka of Mundingburra Posted at 8:16 AM March 21, 2014

My GOD........!! Can`t they be Shooed like they done with the flyingfoxes